VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 17, 2012) - Colonial Coal International Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CAD) (the "Company" or "Colonial") is pleased to provide the following corporate update.

Colonial is continuing to mobilize for its planned 2012 drill programs on each of its 100% owned Huguenot and Flatbed metallurgical coal properties located in northeast British Columbia.

Huguenot Coal Project

Our Company has retained Norwest Corp. to review our recent exploration results and to prepare an updated NI 43-101 technical report for the property's main coking coal targets (contained within the Gates Formation coal measures). The technical report is intended to update all results previously reported for the property's North Block and to more particularly delineate and update all prior material results for the Middle and South Blocks for which only historical information had been reported to date. The updated technical report will incorporate all data obtained from our most recent 2011 exploration program.

Colonial has budgeted $2.5 - $3 million for additional exploration for 2012; it is anticipated that this program will be initiated in early July. Environmental baseline studies and data collection are continuing; this work is budgeted at approximately $650,000.

Flatbed Project

This project is located in northeast British Columbia approximately 20 kms southwest of the town of Tumbler Ridge in an area of past and current coal mining (the Quintette and Trend coal mines, respectively). Our Company retains sufficient funds to proceed with a significant exploration program once coal licenses are granted and appropriate work permits are obtained.

About Colonial Coal International Corp.

Colonial is a publicly traded pure-play coking coal company in British Columbia. The northeast Coal Block of British Columbia, within which our Company's projects are located, hosts a number of proven deposits and has been the subject of M&A activities by Xstrata, Walter Energy, Anglo and others. Colonial is well financed, with approximately $12.5 million in cash and equivalents, no debt and approximately 65 million shares issued.

Additional information can be found on the Company's website www.ccoal.ca or by viewing the Company's filings at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; and the volatility of common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION.

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